Blue Power: How Police Organized to Protect and Serve Themselves by Schrader, Stuart
Blue Power: How Police Organized to Protect and Serve Themselves by Schrader, Stuart

Blue Power: How Police Organized to Protect and Serve Themselves

A history of police unions that reveals how American law enforcement built a political movement that made...
$53.68 USD
$101.99 USD
$53.68 USD
Please hurry! Only 421 left in stock
Author: Stuart Schrader
Format: Hardcover
Language: English
Subtotal: $53.68
Blue Power: How Police Organized to Protect and Serve Themselves by Schrader, Stuart

Blue Power: How Police Organized to Protect and Serve Themselves

$101.99 $53.68
Blue Power: How Police Organized to Protect and Serve Themselves by Schrader, Stuart

Blue Power: How Police Organized to Protect and Serve Themselves

$101.99 $53.68
Author: Stuart Schrader
Format: Hardcover
Language: English
Description
A history of police unions that reveals how American law enforcement built a political movement that made cops untouchable.

"A tour de force ... Read it now." --Ruth Wilson Gilmore, author of Abolition Geography

In America today, police enjoy unmatched power. On the streets, officers employ violence at their own discretion. Behind closed doors, they are even more powerful. In city halls, police strong-arm local leaders and nullify attempts at public oversight. And in state legislatures and Washington, DC, police lobbyists and union leaders zealously uphold a bipartisan consensus against even mild reform. Yet as recently as fifty years ago, police still served at the pleasure of democratically elected politicians, not the other way around. In Blue Power, Stuart Schrader narrates the rise of a bottom-up movement of rank-and-file officers who lifted policing above the law.

Organizers launched their campaign in the 1960s, courting a public backlash to urban uprisings and civil rights. City by city, county by county, they formed unions and other organizations and won control over working conditions, impunity from oversight, and insulation from lean budgets. By the 2000s, this movement had triumphed nationally, shoring up the power of the police to overrule the public interest in the name of law and order.

Through deep archival detective work, Blue Power reveals how police forced American democracy to back the blue.

Author: Stuart Schrader
Publisher: Basic Books
Published: 04/14/2026
Pages: 432
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 1.35lbs
Size: 9.50h x 6.50w x 1.50d
ISBN: 9781541608030

About the Author
Stuart Schrader is an associate professor of history at Johns Hopkins University, where he is the director of the Chloe Center for the Critical Study of Racism, Immigration, and Colonialism. He is also the author of Badges Without Borders: How Global Counterinsurgency Transformed American Policing. He lives in Brooklyn.
Shipping & Return

Returns Policy

You may return most new, unopened items within 30 days of delivery for a full refund. We'll also pay the return shipping costs if the return is a result of our error (you received an incorrect or defective item, etc.).

You should expect to receive your refund within four weeks of giving your package to the return shipper, however, in many cases you will receive a refund more quickly. This time period includes the transit time for us to receive your return from the shipper (5 to 10 business days), the time it takes us to process your return once we receive it (3 to 5 business days), and the time it takes your bank to process our refund request (5 to 10 business days).

If you need to return an item, simply login to your account, view the order using the "Complete Orders" link under the My Account menu and click the Return Item(s) button. We'll notify you via e-mail of your refund once we've received and processed the returned item.

Shipping

We can ship to virtually any address in the world. Note that there are restrictions on some products, and some products cannot be shipped to international destinations.

When you place an order, we will estimate shipping and delivery dates for you based on the availability of your items and the shipping options you choose. Depending on the shipping provider you choose, shipping date estimates may appear on the shipping quotes page.

Please also note that the shipping rates for many items we sell are weight-based. The weight of any such item can be found on its detail page. To reflect the policies of the shipping companies we use, all weights will be rounded up to the next full pound.

Review